Mold on my brush!

I gave it another vinegar wash, and even after shaking the brush dry, I was able to wet 4 paper towels with the water left in the knot. Now its sitting in the sun to dry whatever is left. With the "suction" of the paper towel, some residual mold came out of the knot. I'm hoping that now it will dry much faster, and put the mold at bay

Nick, please post a picture of this brush. This is some steadfast fungus you are dealing with. This is disheartening!

Doodi1 said:

Nick, please post a picture of this brush. Is is some steadfast fungus you are dealing with. This is disheartening!

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As of now there isn't anything to see. If it comes back I will take a photo of it. Hopefully it won't after all the water I was able to suck out with paper towels

Any progress

noctilux said:

btw--i've recently been shaking out the water from my brush into the shower--can use a bigger "swing" as there is a larger target to catch the spray (compared to the sink).

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I've done this for a long time for exactly that reason. I shake the crap out of it about 10-12 times in the shower and it really gets most of the moisture out.

franz said:

Any progress

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I got that brush clean, but my chubby 2 started growing some weird slime around the knot. All my expensive badgers went through a dawn lather, vinegar bath, borax bath, and thorough dry. They are going into storage until I can figure out a way to deal with the problem.

Nick, there's soap residue in the brush causing your problem...you need to rinse it out completely after every shave 'somehow'!! I was thinking about your brush yesterday...meant to ask you about an update myself.

This is like reading a comic book without any illustrations - you can read the kaaapooow, kaaaboom, Twak, Zap, but have no idea what is going on..... Pictures please, if ever a thread needed some, it may be now.

inspiringK said:

This is like reading a comic book without any illustrations - you can read the kaaapooow, kaaaboom, Twak, Zap, but have no idea what is going on..... Pictures please, if ever a thread needed some, it may be now.

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I know I know. I screwed up not taking photos when I saw the mold and the slime. If they come back I will make sure to take some photos before the panic sets in and I go to clean them

Nick, both those brushes are super dense...I know them both well since I own specimens of both...the soap residue remains sucked into the base of the knot...since it is not getting rinsed out, combined with your higher relative humidity, you're providing optimum conditions for mold.

I still think dunking the brush after you've rinsed it under running water for a bit is the way you go. You dunk it, give it a few pushes to open the knot and allow it to absorb some of that water, squeeze or shake the water out, repeat till all the water is gone from the bowl. Open the knot with your thumb and forefinger, you should NOT see any sticky or frothy mess in there. Just give it a try ...what have you got to lose at this point Nick??

This is a DIFFERENT brush that's getting slimy now? Hmmmm, either you have an environmental problem or you're just not cleaning them thoroughly after use.
Tough call, I'd start by emptying that closet or drawer and washing everything in it with bleach, see if you can head off the problem that way.

Chris, I personally doubt Nick is having a den-wide crisis...I'm basing this on the fact that it's always a dense brush that he's just used. I am familiar with the first brush he owns and the second is well known in the forums for it's density...I strongly suspect it's a rinsing issue with left-over product after his shave...combined with high humidity levels and/or restricted air-flow...not to mention the cool conditions found in ones den.

Nick, as an experiment, and I hate recommending this for fear of seeming insensitive to your ongoing problem...but perhaps try shaving with a brush known for being less dense...with a tiny knot perhaps...a 20-22mm...rinse it as per your usual practice, store in the same cabinet/shelf.

It would have to be Vinegar straight from the bottle and not watered down. Mold likes an acidic environment if I remember correctly.
I would go with Borax.

I think it is a cleaning problem rather than an environment issue. I live in La Jolla, which is in the 60's, give or take 10 degrees, year round. My den is a bit warmer, maybe 75 or so, but the air is dry. I think with the water being as hard as it is, soap scum is very very difficult to remove, but particularly once its been allowed to dry.

I think the problem with my Ch2 is that although I was giving it some solid rinses, it wasn't nearly enough and some scum took home in the knot. Despite thorough rinses onwards, it is nearly impossible to remove. I think I finally got it clean with the vinegar/borax treatments, but as Sameer suggested I have a 22mm TGN Finest brush I'm going to work with for a while and see how it goes. If I don't develop any new mold with it and my new rinsing technique, then I'll start breaking out the bigger, denser brushes. Where my shave stuff is located doesn't really have access to direct sunlight. Right now I have the brushes on my desk where they can get some afternoon sun, but as you can imagine having many brushes sitting on your desk for days at a time is a bit of an inconvenience. Once they all seem stabilized and mold free, I'm going to place them in a cabinet where I keep my brushes I'm not using. At that point, I'll try doing a very very thorough rinsing with them, one at a time, and observe them as they dry.

Nick:
You should really consider buying a Reverse Osmosis water purifier. It will make your lathers better than ever, and keep the soap scum off your brushes and razors.

Fantastic Nick, sounds like a plan. A few days with the 22mm TGN should settle this. Meanwhile, how about looking into one of those 'solar' light sources for the den...!

Then again, you get to live in La Jolla. It's only fair that the universe feels you owe it something!

Go West Young Man said:

Then again, you get to live in La Jolla. It's only fair that the universe feels you owe it something!

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Haha, I know right? My biggest problem with where I'm living is the hardness of my water. I guess IT IS only fair